Riverbank council approves 2023 General Plan and Housing Element progress reports, hears concerns over affordable housing shortfall

Riverbank’s City Council on April 9 voted unanimously to adopt the city’s 2023 General Plan Annual Progress Report and the 2023 Housing Element Annual Progress Report, ratifying staff’s submission of the reports to state agencies.

Contract city planner Miguel Galvez and contract planner Michael Arroyo presented the report, saying the city received six housing-focused architectural site-plan-review applications and issued 140 building permits for housing in 2023 (135 single-family dwellings, four accessory dwelling units and one junior ADU). Arroyo said the city reported 504 housing units toward the fifth-cycle Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) covering 2015–2023, about 40% of the 1,280-unit allocation, leaving 776 units unaccommodated.

“Those 504 represent our progress for the fifth cycle,” Arroyo said as he reviewed permit counts and the RHNA table. He reminded council the housing element must demonstrate adequate sites and zoning to accommodate RHNA, not necessarily that the city must build every unit itself.

The presentation put current housing conditions in context: presenters noted mortgage rates near 7.5 percent and an average Modesto-area home value figure cited at roughly $433,000. The report’s authors also flagged that some previously reported permits were removed after staff discovered they were not strictly for housing.

Council members and residents pressed for more action focused on very-low and low-income housing. A resident caller and Zoom participants reiterated concerns that progress has been concentrated in above-moderate income units while the very-low and low-income categories remained largely unmet. Council member comments and staff answers repeatedly emphasized that rising construction costs, higher interest rates and limited, competitive grant funding make building deeply affordable housing difficult without additional incentives or partnerships.

“As I mentioned, grants are so hard to get and they come with so much red tape that from start to finish it can easily take two years,” one council member said in describing the challenges to pursuing grant-funded affordable projects.

Council members discussed options including rezoning vacant or underutilized sites, preparing entitlements in advance to reduce developer wait time, hosting workshops and pursuing inclusionary or fee-based strategies used by other jurisdictions. Staff and council agreed to continue the housing-element update process with additional community workshops and stakeholder outreach.

The council approved the recommendation to ratify the report’s submission to the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research and the California Department of Housing and Community Development by a 5–0 roll-call vote. The council also directed staff to continue public engagement and brought up scheduling further strategic discussions on affordable housing policy and implementation.

The housing element update will continue through community workshops as the city prepares for the sixth-cycle RHNA, which Arroyo said will assign Riverbank a new target of 3,591 units across income categories.